Following an investigation by The Insolvency Service, the directors of Manchester based company, UK Monitoring & Response Solutions Limited (“UKMARS”), which offered national domestic alarm monitoring and response services, have been disqualified from being directors for a period of six years.
UKMARS was wound up in the public interest by the High Court, London on 25 July 2011 with liabilities totalling £327,000. Stephen Wilson and Malcolm McGreevy, both gave undertakings to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) not to promote, manage, or be directors of a limited company.
During the course of these investigations it was found that the UKMARS had made unexplained payments totalling more than £190,000 to companies that were themselves wound up on the public interest. In addition, Mr Wilson and Mr McGreevy were deemed to have exercised such a poor level of control over the company’s books and they were not able to adequately explain to The Insolvency Service the purpose of such significant payments.
The period of disqualification commenced on 11 April 2013 and in practical terms means that that they cannot be a director of any company registered in the UK or an overseas company that has connections with the UK or be involved in forming, marketing or running a company.
In a statement after the disqualifications, the Official Receiver Ken Beasley stated: “This failure on the part of Mr Wilson and Mr McGreevy constitutes behaviour that falls far below that expected of responsible directors of a limited company. The Insolvency Service has strong enforcement powers and we will not hesitate to use them to remove directors from the business environment who have failed to demonstrate the level of care and responsibility that is required of them”.